A variety of fiber optic connector assemblies have been developed which can be mounted upon an end portion of a fiber optic cable to facilitate connection or coupling of the optical fibers. As a result, optical fibers can be effectively routed and can be easily connected, such as to other optical fibers, to a patch panel or other closure in a telephone central office or in an office building or to various remote terminals or pedestals, as required.
In addition to the standard fiber optic connectors that have been developed for mounting upon the end portion of a single optical fiber, such as the SC, FC, ST and D4 connectors, a number of fiber optic connectors have been developed which receive and maintain two or more optical fibers in respective predetermined positions during interconnection. These multi-fiber connectors are becoming increasingly important as the demand for optical communications increases. For example, it is desirable in many fiber-to-the-desk applications to route a pair of optical fibers to each desk in order to concurrently transmit and receive optical signals.
Exemplary multi-fiber connectors include the ESCON.TM. connector and the FCS.TM. connector. These connectors include a pair of conventional ferrules, each of which receives and maintains a single optical fiber in a predetermined position during interconnection. The ESCON.TM. and FCS.TM. connectors also include a housing or yoke which surrounds and supports the ferrules in a side-by-side relationship. As a result, these fiber optic connectors provide for the simultaneous connection of two or more optical fibers. However, ESCON.TM. and FCS.TM. connectors are generally relatively large since each connector must include at least two conventional ferrules positioned in a side-by-side relationship.
ESCON.TM. and FCS.TM. connectors do not allow for the storage of excess or slack lengths of the optical fibers within the connector housing. In this regard, the length of each optical fiber that extends beyond the protective jacket of the fiber optic cable, i.e., the leg length of each optical fiber, must be precisely determined prior to mounting the multi-fiber connector upon the fiber optic connector since the optical fibers have only the minimum necessary length to extend through the housing of the multi-fiber connector. As a result, if one of the ferrules of the multi-fiber connector is defective or is improperly mounted upon the respective optical fiber, the multi-fiber connector must be removed from the end portion of the fiber optic cable. The fiber optic cable must then be reworked, such as by stripping additional portions of the protective jacket from the fiber optic cable and by severing the end portions of the optical fibers upon which the ferrules were originally mounted since the optical fibers would otherwise be too long. Only then can the multi-fiber connector be remounted upon the end portion of the reworked fiber optic cable by again mounting ferrules upon the end portions of the respective optical fibers. Therefore, if a single ferrule is defective or is improperly mounted upon a respective optical fiber, all of the ferrules of the multi-fiber connector, including the undamaged ferrules, are generally scraped since the multi-fiber connector must be removed from the fiber optic cable and remounted thereupon once the end portion of the fiber optic cable has been reworked. Thus, fiber optic connectors which do not provide storage for excess or slack lengths of the optical fibers require a significant amount of reworking and create substantial scrap if one of the ferrules is defective or is improperly mounted upon a respective optical fiber.
As known to those skilled in the art, ferrules must oftentimes be individually processed, i.e., polished, once the ferrules have been mounted upon the end portions of respective optical fibers. It is difficult, however, to separately process the ferrules mounted upon end portions of the respective optical fibers of a multi-fiber connector that does not provide for the storage of excess or slack lengths of the optical fibers since the ferrules cannot generally be separated by a sufficient distance in order to be individually processed. In this regard, the maximum separation of the ferrules is limited by the leg lengths of the optical fibers extending beyond the protective jacket of the fiber optic cable. As described above, however, the leg lengths of the optical fibers are relatively short since the optical fibers typically only extend beyond the protective jacket of the fiber optic cable by the minimum length necessary to extend through the housing of the multi-fiber connector. Thus, it may be relatively difficult to effectively polish the respective end faces of the individual ferrules of a multi-fiber connector since the ferrules can only be physically separated by a relatively small distance.
Fiber optic connectors have been designed which provide for the storage of excess or slack optical fiber. However, these fiber optic connectors also suffer from a number of deficiencies. Notably, conventional fiber optic connectors that provide for the storage of excess or slack optical fiber typically include a housing in which the slack lengths of the optical fibers are looped one or more times. Since the optical fibers cannot be bent beyond a minimum bend radius, such as 3 to 4 centimeters for most optical fibers, these housings generally have relatively large cross-sectional dimensions. For example, housings of conventional fiber optic connectors that provide for the storage of excess or slack optical fibers may have a diameter of 10 centimeters or more. As a result, these fiber optic connectors cannot be utilized in applications which require the fiber optic connectors to fit within relatively small spaces. In addition, conventional fiber optic connectors that provide for the storage of excess or slack optical fiber typically include a rigid housing. Therefore, these fiber optic connectors may be relatively difficult to handle in applications which demand a relatively flexible cable, such as applications in which the cable must be installed along a cable path that has numerous twists and turns.